Instruments of interest
ARMED FORCES (SERVICE INQUIRIES) REGULATIONS 2008
(SI 2008/1651)
1. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) have laid these
Regulations, which provide for the setting-up and operation of
internal inquiries by the Armed Forces (called Service Inquiries),
to replace the current different types of formal inquiry held
by the Armed Forces (such as boards of inquiry, unit inquiries
and ships' investigations). MOD have said that the main purposes
of Service Inquiries will be to establish the facts of a matter
and to make recommendations to prevent the recurrence of anything
that has gone wrong. The Secretary of State for Defence has confirmed
that, where a Service Inquiry is held into the circumstances surrounding
a death, MOD recognise that the bereaved families of Service personnel
will have an interest in its conclusions, and the Ministry's policy
will continue to be to offer a copy of the Inquiry report to the
next of kin.
CORONERS (AMENDMENT) RULES 2008 (SI 2008/1652)
2. These Rules amend Rule 43 of the Coroners
Rules 1984 (S.I. 1984/552) regarding coroners' powers to
make reports to prevent future deaths, and introduce a new rule
to allow coroners to share information with Local Safeguarding
Children Boards (LSCBs) to enable them to carry out their statutory
functions. The amended Rule places a new statutory duty on organisations
receiving reports to respond and to do so within 56 days. Coroners
must share reports and responses with interested parties
to the particular inquest and with the Lord Chancellor, and they
may share reports and responses with other interested organisations.
In sharing reports and responses with the Lord Chancellor, the
Rule introduces a mechanism to ensure national oversight so that
lessons learned can be disseminated more widely where relevant.
The House may wish to note this instrument in connection with
wider discussions on draft primary legislation.
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